Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.) Jesus commanded Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?” John 18:10, 11
Peter meant well. He had told Jesus in the upper room that he was willing to die for him. This seemed to him to be the moment. Jesus and the disciples were confronted by a “detachment of soldiers and some officials…They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons” (John 18:3). Who knows what Peter was thinking? Did he think he could kill all the soldiers with his sword? Was he just buying time in the hope that Jesus could escape? Or was he laying down his life for Jesus? He thought he was doing the right thing and he must have been stung when Jesus told him to put his sword away!
And the way Jesus said it must have hurt too! “Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?” It sounds like, “Peter! Do you want me to go against the Father’s will for me?” Jesus was completely aware of what was happening and that it was God’s plan. Peter was not as well informed. How did Jesus know beyond doubt that God’s will was being done? Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father (John 13:1). Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God (John 13:3). Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you (John 17:1). We cannot forget that Jesus had just finished struggling in prayer in Gethsemane. And last but not least, when the people who had come to arrest him in the garden said they were looking for Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus knocked them all to the ground with the words, I am he (John 18:6). Jesus walked so closely with the Father that he knew his plan and he embraced it. Even though Peter meant well, he did not have that same insight into God’s plan!
This reminds me so much of how my late wife, Roz, used to speak to some people. She battled recurring brain tumors for nearly twenty years. She had many surgeries and progressively lost more and more of what doctors call “quality of life.” Roz spent a lot of time reading her Bible and praying. In the last several years of her life she came to understand that it was not God’s will to heal her and give her health back to her. As she spent time with God she understood that what really mattered was the process he was taking her through. The important thing was how she walked with him through the entire experience. There were many people who meant well. Frequently people would come up to her to tell her they were praying for her. Roz always expressed appreciation for their prayers. But there were always some people who would say something like, “I’m claiming healing for you! I’m rebuking Satan and his demons so you will be healed!” Roz spoke to them like Jesus spoke to Peter. She would say something like, “Oh no! Don’t do that! God is working in a special way in my life! I want to walk in the way he has prepared for me!”
Jesus’ words to Peter always remind me how important it is for us to be in close relationship to God. How important it is for us to spend time listening and waiting on God so we might have insight into what he is doing! Perhaps then we might not fight so much against the special things he brings into our lives!
